Sign Up | Lost Password

New Mexico Bowl Preview - Pokes Try To Rope The Owls

Dec. 15, 2011
Mark Knudson

The Wyoming Cowboys deserved better. They deserved better than the fourth bowl slot among Mountain West teams after finishing third in the conference. (Of course, all the MW teams deserved better bowl assignments, starting with Boise State and TCU, but that’s for another column…). The Pokes won this bowl game in 2009.
 
As it is, the Cowboys will travel down Interstate 25 to take on the Temple Owls of the Mid American Conference in the Gilden New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque. Temple is a team you normally don’t want to face in the NCAA basketball tournament, but as far as a football power, well…not so much. This is the fourth bowl appearance in school history. They go to that many NCAA hoops tourney’s in half a decade.
 
The Owls finished second in their division of the MAC this season, ending up 8-4 on the year, just like Wyo, after winning their final three games. They lost a hard fought game at Penn State in September before the strong finish. The only common opponent was MAC member Bowling Green. Wyo won at BG, while Temple lost. So there’s that.
 
Mostly, though, this is about how much Wyoming has improved during the course of the season. Their only losses were to bowl teams Boise State, TCU, Nebraska and Utah State. That’s the sign of a mature team that does not let down or play down to the level of lesser competition (at least enough to lose games they should win.)
 
Not that Temple is lesser competition. No, this is a team that went bowling in 2009 – a narrow loss to UCLA – and then won eight games last season before being passed over for the post season. They will be motivated.
 
Expect points to be scored in this one. Temple can run the football and Wyo has had trouble stopping the run. The Pokes rank 115th out of 120 FBS teams in run defense. The Owls are 7th in the nation running the ball for over 250 yards per game. They’re led by RB Bernard Pierce, who averages over 125 yards per game. He’s a likely NFL draft pick next April.
 
On the other side of the ball, the Wyo spread offense should cause problems for the Owl defense, which has not faired well against spread passing attacks this season. Future All-MW quarterback Brett Smith should have another big day against the suspect Owl secondary.
 
Temple may have a slight edge in special teams, with a punter and placekicker who have had very good seasons. Wyoming is improved in this area over 2010, but Temple is still slightly better on paper.
 
As usual, this game will come down to who takes care of the football better. Wyo is an astounding plus 15 in the turnover margin this season, recovering 10 more fumbles than they gave away. They rank fourth nationally in this category. Temple isn’t bad, ranking 24th in the same category with a plus six. With the way these offenses should be able to move the football, winning the turnover battle and not giving extra possession to the other offense will be critical.
 
The forecast:
Wyoming 33, Temple 27